Insecurity

I will take a brief moment to textualise some of my feelings, in the hope that once they are out in the public domain, I can get back to enjoying my SL.

This last week has shown me that I am not alone in feeling very insecure, at times, about my relationship with Melissa. After having shared some deep stuff with my dear sister Sorcha, and with my dearest friend on the Grid, Cheyenne, I can safely say that being in love is a bitch. We all three suffer terribly at the hands of our insecurities, yet we all three are utterly devoted to our respective partners. Why is this? Surely to be in love so much is a wonderful and glorious thing, no?

Well, yes and no. Yes, I am transported to a Heaven I have never known before whenever I am with Melissa. I feel a love like I have never experienced before, almost as if every other relationship (and there have not been that many) were merely a rehearsal, an exercise in preparation for the real thing. Whenever I have been able to spend a while with Melissa, I am left feeling happier and more alive than at any other time in my life. Why then do I also suffer the torments of the blackest hells when we are apart?

The answer is simple. It is precisely because I feel a love like never before, that I also feel panic, despair and terror like never before. This is the catch with falling in love on the Grid. Because we meet our lovers in a virtual environment, communicating only through chat, or for some via voice as well, we are lacking all the physical elements of a FL relationship. Now, for me this is a good thing in some ways, as I have terrible trouble understanding visual cues, and very often mishear the subtle nuances of tone of voice. So here on the Grid, without any of these (for me) hindrances, I can be far more sociable, and confidently so, than I feel able to be in FL.

Yet it is this very lack of physicality that can lead to the terrible insecurities I can suffer from. Without the release of emotion through physical contact, feelings both good and bad can magnify greatly. A love that lives solely in the heart and mind is incredibly pure, unsullied by our mortal remains, but purity can apply to bad feelings as well as good. The slightest thing can set off my rather vivid imagination on a downward rush to despair. Examples of such things are Melissa logging off as soon as I log on ( crashing out, in reality), Melissa not spending as much time with me as she did (again, in reality we have always had periods of lots of time together, and periods of very little together), the list is almost endless. and the two I have mentioned here are in fact very popular ones for lovers to spin out on, at least according to the other residents I have spoken to.

Cheyenne has been very candid in her telling of her insecurities, and so as an act of respect and admiration for her bravery, I shall do the same. Before I do so, I must make it very clear indeed that this is NOT a list designed to attack anyone, nor are any of my panicked suppositions to be taken as anything other than that, panicked suppositions. I must also ask my beloved Melissa, the woman who I love above all else, who I am partnered to pon the Grid, and who I wish to handfast with, to try and see where all this comes from, a place that is only visited by those who love so much they are open to vicious attacks of terror and insecurity.

Melissa is a very very beautiful woman. She is highly intelligent, witty, caring, well educated - I have listed her qualities many times before. She is getting more amazing to me every day. I see her evolving as a resident of the Grid, moving further beyond the space I feel I occupy on the Grid as she becomes a member of its social elite. This has always made me a bit insecure, for why would a woman like her want to be partnered to me? I have generally gotten through this, telling myself that she knows why she loves me, and all her actions telegraph her feelings for me, so I generally contain myself. Not always, as last weekend when she attended Chey's sim warming, an event I couldn't make. I was convinced she would meet someone more her equal, and that would be the end of me. By the time we met up on Sunday, I was resigned to the Dear John speech. It never came, and I can barely describe the physical reaction I had to the fact that she was still mine, and wanted to be so. However....

Melissa has a Flickr album, as have I. Unlike me, she is a very beautiful woman, and has already attracted numerous compliments, and even gifts, from men who would otherwise not know about her. I have always pushed her to be more public with her image, and now that she is, and the expected compliments are coming in, I can do nought but hold my breath and wait for what I feel to be inevitable.

I used to buy Melissa a lot of gifts, mainly clothes. I bought so many that she has not had time to wear them all once yet! Or perhaps it is just that my taste is not hers and she is too nice to tell me the truth. This I know not to be true, as she is constantly saying how good my taste is. I digress. I also bought so many outfits that I can't remember them all. Melissa is now wearing almost a new outfit a day, and I do know that they are not ones I have bought her. Of course, she works, has her own money and can thus buy things for herself, but as she has never said as much I can only assume she is being bought them by somebody else.

Melissa always meets me first thing in her morning, for our morning embrace. Recently, she says goodbye and then goes elsewhere for a while rather than just logging off as she used to do. Of course I know she is taking photos for her blog and for Flickr, but I also assume she has another lover now, who she has to spend time with to make her morning complete. This would tie in with the distance that is appearing between us.

As I said before I started, this is only an exposition of how I feel about things, an illustration of how insecurity can twist the most innocent of things into evidence of the most wicked betrayal. If there is distance appearing between us, it is more likely to be for reasons wholly unconnected to me or SL. Melissa has a very full FL, which includes a husband. I also know that this distance is in large part my fault, for being so fucking insecure in the first place. A whiny person is not an attractive person. In that regard, I am sure this post will not help matters!

Another factor in making lovers on the Grid feel insecure is FL circumstances. Mine are shit, and not always of my own making, so I get terrified at the prospect of losing the most important person in my life right now. There is also the undisputed fact of imbalance at play. I live alone, as does Sorcha, as does Chey. Melissa is married, as is Kiy, and whilst I don't know about Sweetie, I understand she has others in her FL too. Thus on the one hand you have those who are alone, and only get comfort from their grid lovers, and on the other you have those who can fulfill their need for comfort a lot easier as they have a significant other readily available. This is a situation that is just one of those things, one cannot choose who one falls in love with, but I think it goes a long way to explain why I for instance get more insecure than Melissa, or Sorcha more than Kiy.

I also know that the intensity of my feelings scares Melissa a bit. She has told me so, when I asked her, but she also said she was happy with where we are in our relationship. I am a little scared by the intensity of the feelings I have for her. She is 5ooo+ miles away, married, there is no possibility we will ever meet in FL let alone be anything else, and yet my world revolves around her! Such is the power of love. This is another reason for my insecurities, the fact that I will scare her completely away by telling her how much I love her. Yet how I can I not confess my love, my desire? This is a bind I don't know how to deal with yet.

I believe, but cannot know unless she tells me, that my feelings for her, the importance I attach to her presence in my life, far outwiegh how she feels about me. I hope that I mean something to her, indeed if I were but to allow it in for a moment I know I do, she has told me so. But I do not believe her world would fall apart if I were not in it, nor would she shrivel up and die if I never held her again. Sadly the reverse is true, or at least I feel it to be so. If Melissa were to end our affair, I know I would find it hard to get up in the morning, or to find a reason to put one foot in front of another. I suspect I would not shrivel up and die either, but my world would forever be an empty and desolate wasteland without her. I was dead inside before she came into my life, and were we to part I would die inside all over again, only this time the dying would worse for having known life again, briefly.

In some ways, I know I have made a rod for my own back. I courted her, I flattered her with the truth of her beauty, wisdom and wit, I bought her gifts by the cartload. In short, I made all the running, and in the end I won her heart. Now I can hardly complain if the flipside of the coin I sought proves to be every bit as awful as the face of love is sweet. Nor do I complain. I merely seek to examine the processes by which love can hurt as well as heal.

I think I have run out of steam now, said all I have wanted to express for some time. I don't know if anything I have said here makes sense to anyone but me, and maybe I have merely shown myself to be even more of a loon than people thought. I cannot know what the future holds for Melissa and I, for good or ill, and maybe if I remember that when I am having an attack of the insecurities, I can take some of the power out of it. All I do know is, that for all the despair and terror I feel when my black dog has me in its teeth, I would not change a single thing about my Second Life. The very presence of the lows confirms the existence of the highs, and however much longer my affair with Melissa lasts, I would not have it any other way for all the riches of Midas.

Sorcha In Eutopia

To have a sister on the Grid like Sorcha is a real blessing. She is such a warm hearted young lass, and just as soppy over her man as I am over Melissa. She has given me LMs to places such as Sinners Paradise and Acropolis' Gardens, so I took her to see Eutopia, knowing she and Kiy had fallen for Apollo as my love and I had. We had a good look round, my sis making gleeful noises at the romantic possibilities of the sim, then we chilled together on a hammock, probably the only platonic pose there, and certainly the only one suitable for siblings to share!

We spoke of many things, our loves, our lives, until it was time for FL to reclaim us both. Melissa gave me life again, and someone to share parts if it with, and now I have Sorcha I have a responsibility to live well on the grid as in FL. I can only encourage and support her from afar, in chat, as she goes through her own personal renaissance, but she seems happy with that level of support for now. I wish I could do more for her, in terms of money or accomodation, as any brother would his sister, but living in different time zones and continents makes that a tad hard. It is a different sort of love for my sister that I feel, as opposed to how I love Melissa ( and that is only right, too! She is very hot for a little sister though..) but I am blessed immensely by having them both in my life. Sorcha and I share a connection in our love for another that is purely within SL, though she and Kiy are further toward a personal Singularity than Melissa and I will probably ever be, and I think we help each other see the beauty and benefit of what we have when we can't see it for ourselves, even when the whole of the FL seems set against you. She is a sister and a half, is Sorcha!

Love In Chi

Joy has come back into my life! Melissa IM'd me last night when she got Gridside, so I hurried home to see her. Hoping to impress her with my cleverness, I took her to Chi, thinking it was somewhere new to her - of course she has seen it with my little sister! Undaunted, I proceeded to show her the volcano, knowing that she has seen Chey's one actually working, and could compare the two objectively. In her outfit of yellow (PixelDoll again) and a rarely used hairpiece, she looked every inch the Spirit Of The Volcano returned to her fiery abode.

Then we moved to the beach, and took our pleasure in each others arms as we sat on a log, with the aptly named couples pose "Sweet Seat". And sweet the pose is, looking very teenage from most angles, the couple playfully nibbling at each other and laughing. Having missed my love most of the weekend, particularly when I would have liked to have been at Chey's party with her but was prevented by FL commitments, to have her once more embrace me set my heart a-racing and my breath coming in short gasps. Just like a kid in love again!

From another angle (over my right shoulder, when stood about 7 feet away) the pose becomes muchn more grown up, the upper partner thrusting into the lower in a way that is far more sexy than sweet! We both had a laugh at this, and enjoyed ourselves more for it. Sweet or sexy, childlike purity or hedonistic lust, whatever pose I share with my beloved it becomes something special for us, as I am sure it does for all couples in love.

That is the end of this serial report from Chi for now, but do go look at it, taking a partner if possible. I know we will be returning to explore further!

Chi's Volcano

I will have to very careful in describing the volcano in Chi, as my very dear friend Chey has a volcano of her own, and I don't want to upset her with comparisons. Which I am unable to do, as I have yet to see her Mount Pele finished and fully erupting. So I shall restrict myself to talking about this volcano in Chi, and hope she will forgive me!

I was blown away by this one! The size, the detail, down to the sound effects of the lava, which even helped make the interior feel hot! The lava flow is very well done, and the eruptions are impressive, giving a wonderful effect of distance as the ejecta marches toward you across the landscape.

Take some time to sit awhile and ponder as I did on the nature of the real and the virtual, and how the latter can approach the emotional impact of the former, when crafted by genuine masters of their art.

Chi

Both my little sister Sorcha and her soulmate Kiy have written in glowing terms about the sim of Chi, so being at a bit of a loose end, after a whole 36 hours without seeing Melissa (!) I went and took a look for myself. What I saw will take a good few posts to cover!

The LZ for TPs into Chi is perched high up on a rock spire from which flows a waterfall - fun can be had by watching one's avatar falling with it. The whole sim appears to be tall rocky spires dominating a beach landscape far below. Lovely!

I spotted a giant raven(?) and went over to say hi. Despite being called Tarn, and having the option to be ridden, the raven/crow/ rook did very little except look impressive and squawk when touched. Perhaps not fully scripted yet?

I then watched a guy surfing some bad tubes. Looked like he was having fun - maybe I will try it myself on another visit, despite my lack of FL balance! Overlooking the beach was a lovely little tea house, but sadly like many of these places, the tea set looks good but is completely unscripted. The set installed in the Yeuxdoux Tea House (please visit!) was scripted, and used to animate your avatar into drinking a bowl of tea, but even that fails to run properly nowadays, which is a great shame. Despite this, the tea house in Chi was very nicely done.

After taking a short breather here, I moved on....

Eutopian Perspective

Melissa has covered the topic of perspective many times in her blog, especially the concept of "forced perspective", where something can appear very large, due to the clever placement of objects, which though small in the background, when made to appear in the foreground have the effect of making the main focal object appear very much larger than it is. I think that is the gist of it, anyway! My beloved is a far cleverer, more knowledgable person than I ever am, so check her post here and elsewhere for a proper explanantion.

Anyway, a simlar effect is experienced in Eutopia. Whilst enjoying each other pon the bench, Melissa remarked that the Moon seemed very close, as in a poor sci-fi B movie. I was astounded, as normally the Moon is riding the far horizon of the Grid. Had the creators of this sim been able to manipulate the heavenly bodies as well? After we had finished our morning canoodle, I flew closer to the errant satellite - and very quickly hit it! Not the Grid moon, but a cleverly placed facsimile. Not even a dance ball, I did check, merely a very good visual joke. I am constantly amazed and impressed by what people can create here!

Eutopia

My love and I went to Eutopia today. Regular readers will know that when I spend any time with Melissa I am in Utopia, but for a change we went somewhere that actually has that as a name. We TP'd in, to a lovely beach, so we changed into appropriate clothing and went exploring. After the non-event of Opal Beach, we were more than pleased with the poses available to couples here.

We started off on a chair together, which gave a wonderful view of the midnight sky - the recommended Sun setting for this sim - and the particle streams that dance across it. Then we found a wonderful cuddle rug. I took some shots with a daylight setting, to try and capture the look of Melissa's skin as it shone with oil - an option that comes with her bikini. Take it from me, the pictures really don't do the effect justice!

Then we followed a pier to a bench just like those in Apollo. From my cursory reading of the notes attached to objects here, I believe this place is connected to the Lost Gardens of Apollo through the creators of both. We spent a happy while laying pon the bench together, talking as lovers do, before Melissa returned to FL. If you like the Apollo sim, or you are just a fan of romance, Endless Destiny/ Eutopia is definitely one place you don't want to miss!

Blood Maiden

I met up with Jane Kit again for a while today, for a few sessions of duelling samurai-style. I had hoped to use my naginata, which I am wearing with a new, ridiculous outfit, but for some reason it rezzed back to front, so the anims made no sense , and I chose to use my katana instead.

Jane was dressed in white, a very maidenly image, but believe you me she is a veritable daemon in combat! I coined the title "Blood Maiden" for her, something akin to a Valkryie I guess, as it seemed to fit the juxtaposition of her image and her ferocity. If any readers know what "Blood Maiden", "Valkyrie" or an equivalent is in Japanese, please let me know!

I managed to score a draw in our first bout, both of us dying simultaneously, but every bout from then on was a win for Jane. I was still enjoying myself, in my basic its-fun-just-to-compete sort of way, but Jane was concerned I was lagging, and therefore not providing good enough sport for her. We did a few experiments, to find that I was indeed drifting left when I was supposed to be walking in a straight line. Jane was not happy with this, so we ended the session, to try again on a less laggy day. Once again, the difference between a dedicated warrior, Jane, and a mere hobbyist, your own correspondent.

Digital Picture Frame

The other class I took in was back at TUi, which I consider my Grid alma mater, so much have I learned here already. Taken by Sylvia Campbell (my apologies to all for the awful snapshot), this class taught how to make a picture frame, that played a slideshow of your favourite pictures! Again a class I have been wanting to take for a while now, and I was not disappointed now I had finally attended.

A small class, we managed to get through it quickly, yet with all the students successfully finishing the project. As with many of TUi's courses, all the required materials were supplied free of charge. Ms Campbell is another tutor whose style and method of teaching are most effective, and I would recommend taking one of her classes if you can.

All the classes I have taken this week have shown me one thing - that whilst builders can make the grid look interesting, and astound the mind with the scope of their creations, it is the scripters who breathe the Life into SL. Every single interaction here depends on a script, and so to really create something wonderful, I shall have to apply myself to learning its secrets. Even making the most basic of scripts work is a wonder, so if you can, take an Introductory class on Scripting, and get a feel for yourselves of the importance this art of making the impossible happen has for the Grid, and its continued evolution into something greater than the sum of its parts, something that will have the potential to change lives on a global level, not just a personal one.

Card Making

There has been a plethora of classes that I have wanted to attend recently, and luckily I have been able to make it to most of them. The first of the day's classes today was on making a Valentines Day card. This was another free course, all materials included, and was delivered by The Academy Of Second Learning, at their sight in Thomson. The tutor was Zara Vale, and a very competent tutor she was too.

This was a big class, so Chat history was vital, and Ms Vale's chat was accompanied by many useful screenshots of the Edit window, all shown on a huge billboard at the back of the class. This was a fascinating lesson, as well as being a very busy one at times, with the interface full of menus!, and I learnt a lot from it. My card did not quite work properly, after I tried editing the Door script it used, but otherwise I managed to follow the instructions correctly, and I feel I was well enough educated by Ms Vale to be reasonably sure of complete success at making an opening card in the future.

ASL is another organisation I can heartily recommend if you wish to learn more about how to manipulate the very fabric of the Grid, and I shall definitely be looking out for Zara Vale's classes again.

Midnight In Wales Harbour

Melissa and I had another visit to the quad region sim of Wales today. The TP landing zone was as crowded as ever, testament to this whole regions popularity. We moved away, and my love led us on a flight toward a lake, past another wonderful waterfall. We landed in a series of weirs, and the pair of us wading hip deep across the basin was too good an opportunity to miss, so I quickly grabbed my love for a joyous embrace. All couples should kiss whilst standing to their loins in fresh, clear water straight off of a mountain, at least once in their lives, take it from me.

We crossed the water, and came to a cuddle rug. On sitting down together - and what a blessed relief after the romantic desert that was Opal Beach - I asked Melissa what her Sun was set to. She replied that it was midnight for her, so I made it the same for myself too. To sit snuggling with the one you love, on a blanket together, in Wales at midnight, is a wonderful way to start the day- and a lot warmer on the grid than in First Wales! Which I hasten to add is a very beautiful country which I have visited many times, and hope to be allowed to do so many more times to come!

Public Works Make Progress

In between times, I have finished the landscaping of an extension to Melissa's Rose Garden. This section has a walk through pergola, as well as a fountain, arbors and plenty of poseballs! I have made this a white room, using a lot of the Melissa Yeuxdoux Special Edition rose, supplemented with standard and climbing white roses from the Heart Garden Centre, in Plush Iota. Once again the combination of plants by the two foremost plantspeople on the Grid, Enchant Jaques and Lillith Heart, has gone a long way to creating another wonderfully romantic space.

I do have a couple more poses to install on the stone benches, but please visit now if you wish. I hope to have the Garden advertised in the Metaverse Messenger, ready for Valentine's Day. All residents who visit Melissa's Rose Garden on Valentine's Day will receive an appropriate free gift - what are the odds it will be a ring?

I have also just placed a bath house near Anchor Wood, for visitors to use at their leisure. I mentioned that the area around the Chain's anchor point would be landscaped, and the Yeuxdoux Bath House is the initial step in the development of a "couples resort" there. More landscaping is planned, as are further facilities for lovers to enjoy together. As I have found love here on the Grid with Melissa, so should all residents have a chance to spend quality time with their special someone in settings condusive to romance. A grand vision I agree, and one where my aim exceeds my reach at the moment, but thanks to wonderful organisations like TUi, and the creators of all that you see in SL, it is a vision that is attainable, as are all grand visions here. Indeed, as you turn any corner here on the Grid you come across someone's Grand Vision Realized!

Opal Beach

My beloved has posted already about our trip to the beach at Opal Island, but I thought I would post these few pictures from our visit. Melissa TP'd there, and then sent me a TP to join her. As she says, their version of Mount Pele is akin to the trilithon from Spinal Tap when compared to the real thing - aka Cheyenne's rendering of the Fire Goddess' home, in all its furious beauty.

We found the beach, and Melissa has already noted our sad surprise at the lack of seating for couples. We did find one blanket, but the result is hardly a picture of two people taking their ease together! The chairs provided a nice view over the sea, and some giggles as we practiced our synchronised posing. We ended up as she says on a log by a campfire, but my seat was made a lot more comfortable by the fact I was with my love. Anywhere with her is heaven to me.

We took our leave of each other, and I went in-Grid to carry on with some building and Melissa to her FL. I have posted pictures also to the Second Life group on Flickr, which is well worth a look for residents images of life on the Grid. Both myself and Melissa post there, as well as to our respective Flickr albums. If any readers have a Flickr album they want listed in the sidebar here, just drop me a line and I will be happy to oblige.

Watch Out For The Gazeb - Oh!

I have set to work with a rush of enthusiasm for a career as a jeweller. Like anything creative, it is easy enough to produce a result that looks reasonably as it should, but producing a good, saleable result is something else entirely. The first picture proudly shows the first ring I made to my own design as opposed to the shaping I learnt in Siri Vezina's class. Big rocks are easy enough to create, and they are also fun to make as well, but the real skill comes in making the intricate work. A lot can be acheived through the use of textures, and that will more than likely be what I shall try as well, but for now I shall attempt to build jewellery from prims, nice tiny 1mm cubed prims. The more intricate the work though, the more likely the rings or whathaveyou will be simstoppers, due to their high prim count!

My favourite pieces are the four grouped over to the right of the picture. They are all made from halfsphere gems dropped into cups of precious metal, the two being mounted pon a ring of same. Fiddly, at that size, but the result is rather good, I think. All the pieces are available for sale, at very low prices. Just IM me Gridside or email me from here if you are interested in purchasing one. I shall be opening a vendor somewhere soon, when the range is wide enough. Commissions may be undertaken if they aren't too ambitious! The brand name is Betta Bling!, for which I am very grateful to my beloved. I am not sure Melissa realises what she could be in for in terms of gift showers, now that I can make rings!

O yes, the title of this post. I am now working from the Golden Gazebo, which was wooden but fell the victim of an unfortunate texturing accident. Must be more careful next time!

My Ring

One further class I attended at TUi was in the basics of jewellery making. The tutor was Siri Vezini, and like all the TUi tutors I have experienced, she delivered the lesson in such a way as to make you believe you can do this and so much more.

Despite having some basic building experience, I was still pleasantly surprised at what can be done with basic techniques to still achieve a good result. I found the process of making a ring very rewarding, and is something I may pursue for a while as a paying job. I will have to do a bit better than my first ring, the gold and garnet lump at the bottom!

More Gifts Of Love

It has been something of a school week for me, as I attend a number of classes, all delivered brilliantly by TUi. The next class I took was delivered by Kayak Kuu, on the construction of a Valentine's Day Gift Giver, perfect for the coming event, and as a method of giving visitors to the garden a nice freebie or two. Working on the same principle as the Notecard Giver, again I learnt - and had my existing knowledge confirmed - about textures and scripts. The class even included a range of gifts suitable for Valentine's Day, some of which were hand made by Mr Kuu. Again, a brilliant class brilliantly taught.

One observation I did make though. Aside from kayak Kuu and an anthropoid frog named Soneclipse who had to leave early on in the class, I was the only male there. Come on gentlemen, make her something you know she'll love, instead of buying something you hope she'll like! Don't let the side down when it comes to Romance!

The Script For Love

As my abilities as a builder gradually improve, I now want to start writing a few basic scripts, to make my creations more interactive. Thankfully the Grid is home to TUi, a wonderful organisation that delivers classes in all aspects of grid residency, at all levels of need and knowledge, and always at very reasonable cost, though often free. Once such course I attended recently was LSL 101, Scripting For Beginners.

Delivered by Ledeanna Evans and held in the Nobel classroom, the course consisted of 7 units, though FL meant that I have 3 units to reurn for. All the classes were delivered very well by Ms Evans, as she made the whole subject of LSL very accessible, and once again, I felt like my goals are acheivable. I was even able to have a go at a "Love Giver" (last picture), a simple box that says something romantic when touched. I could have made it without having to attend the class, but inspiration as well as knowledge is another result of attending TUi classes. To learn more about the organisation and its class schedule, check out their HQ at Beyond The Prim gridside, or visit their website here. If you want to learn something about anything, they will teach you what you need to know, and more!

Anchor Wood

Loyal readers of this blog (and thank you all, for sticking with me on those occasions when I was less than cheery) will notice a slight revamp of the sidebar. This has been made necessary by the increasing number of other blogs that I am coming across on the Web, and the need to organise them somewhat. A few blogs now have their own sections, namely Photoblogs & Albums, and SL Fashion Sites. There may well be a blog or too that I have yet to move to its new home, but I will get there.

Perhaps of more interest is the inclusion of SLurls. These are URLs that will take you to a page that shows the location of the destination site on the Grid, with a nice map, and then, if you have Second Life loaded, you can click on the SLurl on the map and be TP'd straight there, SL opening for you as you do so. These have been around for a while now, but only really now are they starting to appear on fansites etc. It was Loui's blog that decided me to use them here, as he has a SLurl to his Tiki bar. Ever the magpie, I am happy to take onboard other peoples' good ideas, so the locations of four of the Scaggs-Yeuxdoux Estate's holdings are now accessible directly from this blog! Good innit, eh? Check the link to SLurl.com for more information on SLurls, their creation and their use.

So far so good, you will have read many times of some of the locations SLurl'd, but what of Anchor Wood? Well, as I am supposed to be something of an aesthete, I couldn't leave the site of the Chain's landfall unlandscaped, so a program of aforestation has been started. The pictures show how this is taking shape. The site is a nice quiet place as it stands, but there will be other structures to visit inserted into the planting as sensitively as possible. Watch this space for updates!

Waltzing On Water

I met up with my beloved at home, where she greeted me wearing a fantastic creation from Opal Island. A beautiful red (insert correct shade here) dress with flexi panels, that had the ability to float slowly back into place upon landing . Sadly this made the dress quite cumbersome to fly in, so Melissa changed into a more flight-friendly outfit for our joint exploration of ElvenVale.

There are some poseballs placed out over the lake here, so we spent our time together waltzing over the water, whilst exchanging the good mornings that lovers find so special. Came time too soon for my love to return to FL, so after a kiss goodbye and promises of further meetings, she logged off leaving me still walking on air!

As per my previous post, do come and visit ElvenVale. There is a bit of fae magic in those pixels!

Serenity Wood

For some reason, I had a LM to Serenity Wood, ElvenVale in my pocket, so as I struggle sometimes to find places that Melissa would take me to if she found them first, I TP'd over to see what it was like. And I am very glad I did! ElvenVale is a wonderfully verdant region, and fits a view of the fae peoples landscape quite nicely.

Tress and water abound here, with structures contained in both. As fits an elven sim, the trees were absolutely gigantic, venerable creations that housed dwellings or relaxation spaces. I can recommend this place for a visit, and don't be put off by the PG tag either - it just means that everyone can visit here, which is as it should be, and the poseballs are of the romantic variety, again as it should be.

Nearby is a market selling all manner of fantastic goods, from the requite Elven Ears to sailing ships with working cannons, via some very nice fantasy-art-inspired suits of armour for the discerning female warrior.

Blade Garden

You may have noticed that I am quite taken with my hobby of sword play. It certainly gives me another excuse (as if I needed one) for dressing up in outlandish costumes, evidenced by the first picture. My weapon here is a naginata, a wickedly effective two-handed polearm.

As ever, I like to provide facilities for others to enjoy what I do, hence the Rose Garden and the Tea House. The same applies to duelling. Samurai Island is big, but cold, and Psyberian's arena is vast, but empty. So I have made my own combat area, the Blade Garden. A smaller, more intimate affair than the other battlegrounds I have experienced so far.

The temple provides somewhere for combatants to prepare their souls prior to a duel, and to mourn those slain afterwards. The watchtower, pool, fountain etc are just to provide visual interest, and will most likely be moved or replaced every so often.



In order to make sure I had all the settings right for others to use their weapons, HUDs etc, I needed to fight someone there! I was fortunate to meet two willing volunteers whilst on Samurai Island, the first being Jane Kit, a most capable swordswoman. She was very patient in explaining the mechanics of fighting in Mouselook, and has the dubious honour of being my first kill as well. Obviously she taught me too well!

With her help, I was able to make sure the Blade Garden allows others to use their HUD systems, set landmarks etc. The only down part was that whilst I could see the blood I drew from Jane, she did not get the same visual effect when striking me. This could be due to individual weapons, or the perennial lag that we seem to have to put up with now. Jane had to go do stuff elsewhere, but she was most complimentary about my efforts to create a suitable place to fight in. We parted almost as equals, in terms of kills taken from each other, but her skill with a katana ensured I have a long way to go yet.

I then met Ianto Hudson, a member of the Vanguard Samurai School. He is a very sociable fellow, and also complimented me on the arena. He fights with a blade in each hand, and is the very devil in a scrap. I tried my naginata for a while, but whichever weapon I used, Ianto won! I think I did score one kill off him, but certainly no more.

So, for all you budding duellists out there, the Blade Garden is open for business. It is free to use, as I have dropped the idea of "pay to slay", so please do enjoy the facility. Donations are always appreciated, naturally!

Samurai Island

A night without my beloved, so I hied myself off to Samurai Island once more. This is the HQ of the C:SI melee system, as posted elsewhere in this blog. The island is very well put together, the combat area lurking behind massive stone walls, and having an air of solemnity about it. You can even feel the chill air! I wandered about a bit, seeing a few other people in the distance, but none would take up my offer of combat. I suspect I do not fit in with the dress code of the Samurai Schools, but if people judge by appearance only, they will miss out on a capable opponent. Besides, I am tame compared to some of the fighting suits I have seen!

Samurai Island also has a Mall, where as well as weapons a wide range of other goods are sold - once more my hand visited my wallet as I purchased gifts for my absent love. Tis true what they say bout the heart growing fonder for it, a day apart serves to make our next meeting all the sweeter!

More From The Acropolis

Melissa and I took another look at the gardens of the Acropolis sims this morning. The landmark Sorcha gave us TP's us into the sim of Aglea, but Acropolis is made up of four sims, and today we saw brief glimpses of Delia and Elpida as well. Melissa was full of spirit today, and on more than one occasion left this old fart behind floundering in 3 metres of water, or inadvertently stuck in Mouselook, as she strode ahead intent of the discovery of the new.

The pictures show a fantastic pavilion not so far from the lava fall described yesterday, and then parts of the route we took, circling about the centrepoint of the four adjoining sims. The journey took us through a valley of boggling proportions, the pictures doing nothing to convey the scale of the place. The surface we walked upon was variously sand, stepping stones and lastly setts. At one point we were overflown by a tour guide, something that Sorcha has spoken of in her post on this fantasic place, and that is also something I would like to do, preferably with Melissa beside me. After today though, I suspect my love will go exploring alone, to later show me places of note that are flat and dry! Poor old boy!

Interlude

The posts produced today appear with the help of "Woman King", by Iron & Wine, readily available on Soulseek.

Retail Oasis

Follow the path away from the beach, and mosaic steps lead you through the sand to a waterfall. You may see the picture on the Sun a little better in the first shot. The waterfall, with a nice poseball set - ah! if only Melissa had been with me to share it, sits at the entrance to a mall, Fortuna Plaza in Reil. The range of shops looks impressive, but I ended my journey here, making a note to explore this oasis further on another occasion, preferably when I am with my love!

Sea Of Basiat

As I followed the path from the gardens, I came to a beach, and there at the dockside was a tour guide, exactly the same as TimTam in Svarga. Knowing that these tours are very worthwhile, I hopped aboard, and was taken beneath the waves for look at the sea bed! I am too slow with the camera, but on the first leg you pass a killer whale. The guide deposited me on another dock somewhere, obviously a water sports resort judging by the guy behind me in his scuba gear. The dolphins leaping behind me were a nice touch, too.

I then boarded another guide for the return journey, and this time we passed a mother orca and her pup. A wonderful little tour, do take it for the whales alone, but sadly there was no commentary as there was with TimTam.

15th January?

I am sure I wasn't the only one to notice this, and indeed, perhaps I am way behind everyone else, but as I walked along the path from the Acropolis Gardens having bid farewell to Melissa as she returned to FL, I saw a face in the Sun. This picture doesn't show it very well - and the Sun just refuses to Zoom closer - but there was the image of Martin Luther King. Now I have heard of a Martin Luther King day, but have no idea when it is, so whether this was an effect produced to mark said day, or whether this image - of whoever it is - is a permanent feature I haven't noticed before, perhaps my good and loyal readers can provide the answer?

Acropolis Gardens

This morning I had a wonderful time with my love, and I must say Thank You! to Sorcha for the landmark. We visited the gardens that make up the four sims of Acropolis, and though we barely scratched the surface, they are a magnificent creation indeed.

We TP'd in near the foot of a lava fall, and this is a great piece of work. Sadly the rocks there are set to Phantom, so Melissa hovered for this shot of her as Fire Goddess. On along the path next to a waterfall, the poseballs start to appear, for this is a place of romance. We chose a set upon a bench, and what a choice! The tenderness it carried was wonderful, and I can recommend that bench to any couple, although you might have to wait a while before we have finished with it!

Sorcha

Sunday is a day when I rarely see Melissa in the evenings, so if I am not building I tend to drift, and risk IMing people on my Friends list. I am not the best at using this facility, and luckily the people I have on my list are generally of the sort who accept that. I decided to see if my lil sista Sorcha was working, figuring on having a shake of the old bones. As it turned out, she was off work, and missing K a bit, so a chat was offered. She TP'd me to her treehouse, and I am well proud of my baby girl for the house she keeps. The view is very good from her balcony, living as she does in a vibrant part of the Grid. The main reception area reflects her relaxed informal way of being. Her private area, where we chilled together and spoke of our respective loves, is a warm space, and definitely reflects Sorcha. She was very kind about my efforts at creating poses, getting very enthusiastic bout them (aww, sweetheart, I know how amateur they are, but thank you).

As usual, when I want to feel brighter, I took Sorcha shopping. We first went to Naughty Island, where she picked out a nice top, but really I think Melissa can be a better guide to that fashion haven than me, so I plumped for the safe option and we headed for Pixel Dolls, in Chartreuse. I have to say that I prefer the whole experience in that sim when shopping, but Naughty Designs are the tops for skins. Sorcha spotted a Marilyn dress, straight from Seven Year Itch, and there could be no question at that being the dress for her. She even ran through my poses again as soon as she had it on!

Friendship In Feathers

My beloved has written about her friend Xaxoqual here, and I was lucky enough to be introduced to this incredible creature today. Melissa is quite proud of what I have created for her, and thought it time that Xaxo took a look at our home. I have to say that she is a wonderful woman, feathers and all, and her way is a very gentle one. Of course, a dove is hellish dangerous when cornered and in fear of its life, or in defence of it's young or home, but who would want to threaten such a creature as this?

There is, in some quarters, a lot of nonsense spoken about furries, but such "people" (and I use the term in its loosest sense) would be more at home in the 12th century, rather than the 21st. People choose their avatars for a variety of reasons, and I applaud and admire those residents who throw of the chains of their human form, or for others their FL gender. I find a 7 feet tall elfen male with dredlox to be my ideal representation upon the Grid, but I set no standards or restrictions for what others may choose.

Melissa had to leave us to attend to her FL (as we all must, however reluctantly) so I did my best at entertaining my new friend. We had a wide-ranging and at times deeply personal conversation, from which I emerged wiser in many areas of why people enter into their Second Life, and I include my own in that. Residents like Xaxo and Melissa are a precious gift to the Grid, and I count myself blessed innumerable times to be partnered to one, and something of a friend to the other.

Digital Embrace

Now that Cheyenne has a beloved of her own, she is something of an authority on poseballs. Read her excellent post on such things here. Melissa and I also enjoy the romantic, less hardcore anims ourselves, and I recently found a new creator of them, Digital Kaos. Here are two snaps of us trying their piece "Awaited Embrace", on our front terrace. What the pictures don't show is the beginning of the sequence, where Melissa is swept up in my arms and we whirl around joyously a couple of times, two people whose hearts can once more beat in synchrony now that they are reunited. It really is a quite remarkable example of the animators art. Digital Kaos are, I think, a relatively new provider of poseballs, but look them up and check them out, the selection they hold is well worth the trouble.

ADDENDUM: The creator is in fact a creatrix, Jesse Murdock. Look for Sexy Jesse's Sexy Motions. A large store, with individual anims, poses, dances and sex beds preloaded and utilising the MLP control system, a must for people who just can't live without all their favourite poseballs!

Poseur

As my beloved has posted here, we had a very successful shopping trip yesterday. She posts about it so well that I will merely provide a picture of her looking heart-stoppingly gorgeous in the triangle top she mentions. If you want to see more fantastic pictures of Melissa, then go look at her Flickr album here, or my set of Melissa pictures here.

I also uploaded my first home made pose yesterday evening. A grateful thanks to all who helped out on the Animation forum. I don't think it's actually too bad for a first attempt. I shall endeavour to produce more in what will become a Male Model pose series - like most things in SL, there are lots of fantastic poses for women/ females, but very few for men/ males. It seems to be assumed we spend most of our time lounging on the ground or sitting at bars! The set will be available for purchase soon, as my first attempt at making my gridtime pay for itself. Watch this space for further developments on that front.

Up Where The Air Is Clear

Although I have the extension to Melissa's Rose Garden to finish, and a venue to run (one day!) I am currently trying to get our new home up to a point where I can stop fussing with it for a while. The oriental theme of the tea house is continued, and I am starting to be pleased with what I have done so far. Once again I am not responsible for the bricks and mortar (or more correctly paper and bamboo in this case), but the platform and the layout are all mine. I'm a gardener, not an architect. The pictures show;
Top - view back at house from gazebo.
Next - looking across at the bath house.
Below that - view from bath house across to as-yet undecided structure.
Bottom - sunrise seen from the house, through the opaquable(spp? word?) walls/ windows.

My darling loves the orient, and as she is both my partner and my muse, Melissa's wish is my inspiration. Being our private retreat, only friends and family will likely come here (although now I have said that I daresay the place will be inundated with sightseers and trophy hunters. Time to dust off the Security bot!), but for really great pictures of our new home, check Melissa's Flickr space here. I will post more snaps here, and at my own Flickr space, as and when, but most especially when Melissa has installed our Zen garden. With all her knowledge and skill, I doubt if there will be another one on the Grid - or elsewhere - to match it!

Family

Last night I was busy with our new home in the sky, when my SL sister Sorcha came online. She had a night off from her job as a hostess, so I TP'd her over to see the new place. First picture is of Sorcha in the gazebo, but when we stood up she was launched over the edge into thin air (I must put up some catch fencing) so we retired to the communal area of the house. As you can see, my lil sis is dressed for summer, as always!

If you read her blog - and you really should, it's another good one - you will know that Sorcha's FL younger brother has joined the Grid. He is an artist, and was hanging his first pictures in SL, so Sorcha TP'd us both to see him. I have no idea about his FL status, but as you can see, on the Grid he looks every inch the rebellious teen, complete with green hair! His name is Unboring Tone, which you can read as you like, but this old fart will have to shorten it to Unbo from now on.

My newly aquired SL brother (apparently they have another sister, so if she gets the bug I will end up with 3 Grid siblings! What have I let myself in for, kids these days, got no respect .....) is an incredibly talented artist, and also incredibly modest. The two pictures are Mary, on the left, oil on canvas, and Teeth, a mixed media acrylic piece. The close up shows more detail still. Apparently the date appears six times in the FL original, but can you see the second one on this version?

Unbo is a very nice young man, and compliments his sister well. It is nice to see the younger generation getting on well together! And now with TWO kids to worry about, I'm sure there will be no shortage of things to post about here!


Addendum: Unboring's work can be seen at the Smart Art Grand Gallery, in Ginsberg. Check them out! Also on diplay are pictures by Sorcha's SL love, Kiy. And a great many other talented artists also.

Flickr

Never being one to miss an opportunity to blatantly copy a good idea, I now have a Flickr album. Only because my beloved has one! You can see Melissa's Flickr photo's here.You really must check them out, they are fantastic! My offerings are here, and a lot less fantastic. Might be worth a look if you need a laugh, though.

By way of recompense to my darling for stealing yet another of her ideas (this very blog was the other one I borrowed, after seeing hers) I present two more pictures of her. These are the two I carry in my wallet in FL. Yes, really. I couldn't decide between them, they both capture her beauty perfectly. Why, doesn't every man who is in love carry a picture of his angel?

Facing East

Work is progressing well on our home in the sky. Melissa has a great love for, and no little experience in, all things oriental, and I have picked that up, yet another of the gifts my darling has given me. I can certainly see the romance of the East, though an East long past, as is true of anywhere, the past is always made romantic by distance from the present.

Yet this romance is very much here and now. Melissa is my muse as well as my betrothed, and all that I build comes from her presence in my life. So, having been very pleased with the way the tea house went - and thank you to all my readers who use it, please continue to do so, it is there for all to enjoy - I am continuing the oriental theme here. We now have an lovely elevated house, facing the sunrise along an arbor, at the other end of which sits a gazebo flanked by two more buildings. Their function will come to me as I tackle the installation of a central water feature.

Next to our house is now a fantastic waterfall tub. Melissa is going to create a Zen garden in the opposite corner, and I cannot wait to see it. All in all, we are creating what will become a very special home for us on the Grid. At least for now, til my next grand scheme waylays me! But it seems that my darling and I are at that point when a permanent home to base ourselves in, as opposed to the tents etc we have utilised whilst I built the Rose Garden and Celebration Hall, would be very nice to have. Pray gods I have not tempted fate by saying that! I am thoroughly enjoying working with this theme, too, and have more ideas lining up all the time. It is the romance it contains, as well as the mystery of a foreign land, the calm assurance of the architecture, appearing so flimsy yet taking its place with authority in the landscape, the purity of the lines and the beauty they create. And using that last as a very clumsy excuse, a picture of my beloved, the purity of whose lines creates beauty indeed!

Paradise For This Sinner, At Least

I was abe to spend quite a while with my beloved the other night, and off we went exploring. Sorcha had given me a landmark to the sim of Wales, a place called Sinners Paradise! Not the Wales I know! But as we didn't have to cross the Severn Bridge to get there - always an experience for an Englishman - off we TP'd.

The landing area is very crowded at any time of day or night, it would seem, but despite that the lag isnt too awful, and mainly localised to the landing zone anyway. Elsewhere there is hardly any at all. And the range of attire on display makes our sexy silks look positively dowdy!

Sorcha tells me there is plenty to do in Wales The Sim, such as rafting, sky- and scuba diving, etc. I look forward to trying all these activities with Melissa in time, but at the moment the scenery takes all my attention. The first picture illustrates the wonderful view, and the one to be had in the sim too, and whilst I don't know First Wales in detail, this Saxon thinks the landscaping must have been taken directly from it. Just look at the waterfall! Breathtaking!

There are plenty of cobbled walkways to move around the peaks, and some wonderful poseballs too. Wales could well be a regular destination for these two lovers. If you have someone special in your life, a trip to Sinners Paradise could be heaven for the pair of you!

Art And Manners

I like to attend gallery previews, as a way of keeping myself at the leading edge of the art world, meeting new artists for the venue, and checking out the competition. This I did last night, over at the Art Loft, Keenag, Owlet. The artist who was opening there was Eric Luden, who has a style that fuses pop-art with Rubens. It could have been a very useful evening, but for the experience on the way there, that I will now recount to you.

I took a young samurai shopping the other night, as posted previously. Also that night a young man, Legault Whitman, was there, in need of some assistance. Leo and I both tried, but there seemed to be a language difficulty. In understanding, at least. In the end it became clear that Whitman was a cash-strapped newb, so being a generous heart I gave him some Ls. He went away, having friended me, and all was happy.

I did not think to hear from Whitman again, if ever, as we all have Friends lists that contain the friends made on impulse and never encountered again. Yesterday night though, I did hear from him. I at first thought it was Spam from one of my groups, the way it was worded asking for money in a very impersonal and brash way, but then I saw who it was from. I was busy, and somewhat irked by this demand, so politely but firmly responded to Whitmans IM, telling him I was busy, that the other night had been a gift, and not to ask for any more money. Certainly not in that way! He then replied swiftly with a second demand, this time for the exact amount I had given him previously, for something else he couldn't live without and needed help to acquire.


I am a tolerant, gentle soul, but I will not be ignored so rudely. I neither suffer fools gladly, nor like to repeat myself. Thus I told Whitman to go away, that I was de-friending him, and that further contact would result in my filing an Abuse Report against him. A possibly extreme reaction, but life is too short anywhere to waste time on people you don't like, and at least in SL one can file reports etc should the other party not quite understand the meaning of F*ck Off.

So it was thus that I arrvived at the gallery. I often enjoy private viewings and gallery openings, mainly to see the pieces exhibited, but also to people-watch and maybe have some fun. You see, for some 20 or more years, until my father retired a few years ago, my parents have owned and run very successful contemporary art galleries, and I know more than a little about how they work. So I quickly spotted a group I could antagonise gently, which is the mood I was in. My deviltry can be sometimes darker, for other reasons than mere humour. The group contained the gallery's owner Ishtvan Pippen, and an artist, Artemis Glass. I politely introduced myself to Mr Pippen, enquiring after his gallery, but if one can get a cold shoulder in a virtual world, I got it from him. Red rags and bulls spring to mind. I then proceeded to ask Ms Glass about the possibility of her exhibiting her works for me, under the nose of Pippen as he was trying the same. He must have had me on mute by his reponses to the group assembled, and not to me, but I could almost feel him bristling at this unwarranted intrusion into his business by some gauche newcomer. I allowed myself a few minutes of fun, and then left to look at the pictures. We all make our own amusement, eh?

The gallery is pleasant, though, well laid out, with space to exhibit larger works such as those produced by Mr Luden. They too are good, and worth a gander. The entertainment at the preview was provided by DJ Doubledown Tandino, and he was a superb mixer. It was very refreshing to see a live DJ at work for a change, as opposed to someone twirling their avatar about whilst they talk over a radio station stream, as happens in many clubs. Live music is so much nicer, however it is produced. Look out for DJ Doubledown, he is a fine act to catch.

Dead Again

I posted earlier about my new fad of duelling in the fashion of the samurai. Whilst I am unable to photograph myself in the middle of a bout, here are some shots of the other evening, when I dropped in to a combat sim for a fight. The sim in question is Owlet, and the area I am interested in is the Scenic Mountain. This is being developed by Psyberian Vinson, the gentleman in the hard hat. His area is currently under construction, as one would know if one could read the Japanese signs placed to warn of such necessity.He is Master of Clan Psyberia, a group of like-minded individuals who roleplay a Samurai Clan and Combat School. This is all done as an adjunct to the Combat:Samurai Island system, for those who want that level of immersion into the subject.

The young man in black is Leockto Namura, a creator of anime in FL, and creator of hair in SL. He is wearing one of his two creations, both of which are based on his anime characters. I thought them to be very well made and thought out, so encouraged him to design a few more and maybe set up a shop? If I had the wit to turn out a product that people wanted, I am sure I would sell as much of it as I could! Then I could take more seriously the dream of earning enough Lindens on the Grid to be able to pay my tier fees solely from that income. I warmed to Leockto, and learning from my beloved, as explained here, took him to the Mall Of Blades and helped him to purchase his first scripted weapon, a Heart of Darkness katana. I bought a Flame naginata for myself, the idea of using what is essentially a halberd appealing to the medieval thane within me.

I had hoped to be the first to blood Leockto's virgin blade, but lag prevented this and I touched blades instead with Master Vinson. The second shot shows the result. My current streak now stands at 0-9, but Master Vinson is very encouraging, and in order to win, one must learn how not to lose. It's a bit of fun, too!

Master Vinson is straight out of the epics of the orient, all wise teacher, firm disciplinarian (at least he would like you to think so!) and possessing a gentle wit that he uses to very good effect when passing on a nugget of knowledge. His humour is superb, as evidenced by the third picture of Master Vinson wearing his Samurai Panda avatar. This loveable ball of lethal martial skill then rushed harum scarum around the arena, bumping and smashing about with hilarious abandon. Watching the effect on this tiny bear of the drawing of a katana is superb! Master Vinson then started to tease the young apprentice Namura with this avatar, in an attempt to get him to draw his shiny new blade. Playing his role of hot-headed-young-pupil-who-is-too-overawed-by-his-teacher-to-lighten-up to the full, Leockto reacted in a camply prim fashion, which only delighted master Vinson into teasing him further! I withdrew, and the last shot sees me taking in both the crisp mountain air, and the magnificent vista.

New Hair Day

Loyal readers will have noted my preference for wearing lox, usually in the Spanish style. This is most definitely an attempt to recreate a fond memory of a time in my FL, when I wore lox myself. A glorious time, many years past now. How did I come to lose them? Ah, the power Delilah had over Samson!

All of my hair is from the studio of Booperkit Moseley, in his BooperLox range. The pictures show me proudly wearing a commission he created for me, a copy of his BooperHawk rendered in Light Blonde. The Boop has many, many sets of lox and afros - all flexi where needed - in his shop, at exceptionally reasonable prices, considering the quality of look it is possible to create with one of his hairpieces. Search for BooperFunk, or even just Booper, and you will find his retail outlet. Alternatively, use the SLurl on his blog here.

What Goes Up...

...doesn't have to come down here in SL, but it can be great fun if you let it!

Because of the physics of the Grid, it is possible to fly unaided. At least, it is up to 250m. Beyond that limit, some sort of device is needed. After pottering around in the Muse for a while, I thought it might be an amusement to try out my new jet pack. And I was right, it certainly was!

In the first shot, I have ascended - very rapidly! - to 15000m. The ability to do this is great fun indeed, as I am sure we have all wanted to emulate Rocketman at some point in our lives, but for me the real enjoyment comes from being able to fall from this height and walk away unscathed! Perhaps I am not quite right in the head (jeez, you don't say!) but I often allow myself the perverse thrill of stopping flying and just falling to the Grid. The visual effect of bouncing is something else!

Dropping like a stone from 15000m takes quite a while, so I had plenty of time to see what various poses look like in in free fall. Hence the Lotus. Most of my time during the descent though was spent with arms and legs flailing wildly. The one aspect of a good drop that snapshots don't capture is the judder - if you have ever been on a rollercoaster, or freewheeled a bicycle down a particularly steep hill, you will know what I mean, as your vision starts to fragment into blurred, jumpy glimpses of what lies ahead of you. The same thing sort of happens here in SL, except that your avatar starts to judder and go blurry! Next time I feel like a drop, I will try it in Mouselook!

Sadly, I was unable to bring you the Impact shot, but burrowing several metres into the ground before picking oneself up and dusting oneself down makes for hilarious viewing. If only one could leave a crater!

Neighbours

I have already posted about the fact that the Chain now has a platform attached to it. Work continues, and I present a couple more shots of the progress being made. Now at 60x40m, the platform has been grassed, and a wall now runs around all four sides. A dwelling of some description will follow, but I have to get used to not being able to edit objects above 750m. So no towers!

After laying the turf and building the wall, I decided to check out my neighbours up here. As ever, one of them is a club! The Playboyz Sexy Club N Casino, to be exact, sitting 500m above the region of Seu. Now I am a bit of a clubber myself, but it seems that everywhere you turn, there is a club/ casino/ both. There are two neighbouring my land at ground level, and I am sure readers will have noted the surfeit of such establishments across the Grid as a whole. I am all for making money in SL, indeed one day I hope to make some Lindens myself (to cover all the Lindens I spend!), but surely, there are other ways than yet another damn club?!

The last shot shows a very interesting structure, which may be the Andromeda 7th Tower HQ. Or The Tigers Den. If the owner reads this blog, perhaps they could confirm? I am not exactly sure what it is, or if it is even meant to be habitable, but it is certainly visually intriguing. That is what I like to see, a bit more imagination in creation. Above the structure you can see another platform, this time with grass and trees. I have no idea whose it is, or why it is, but it is the closest of my neighbours to being interesting. I myself will be having trees etc on my skyland, so maybe it's not the most original of layouts, but it is surely the most visually appealing!

Pixels Couldn't Look More Beautiful

Melissa has already posted here about the joys of rendering at 750m, but I thought I would post a picture of her taken at that altitude to demonstrate how wonderful she looks when the fps is up around the mid-twenties. I am sure you will agree that never did pixellated flesh look so real - scary real, in fact! Not that I am at all scared, just bowled over even more! Take it from me also, her sexy walk would make a dead man rise again, the way it was rendered the other day! As regular readers of my blog already know, I think Melissa looks amazing whatever the fps or altitude, but it was nice that I could approach her level of perfection also up there - luckily for you, I have no pictures of me, as even when superbly rendered, I am definitely not in the same league as my beloved, not by a long shot. Besides, given the choice, pictures of Melissa are much nicer to look at than pictures of me!

Sunset At 750

Well, the Chain has reached an end at last. Not for want of trying, it is halted at 750m, above which height I seem to be unable to build. Thus it was time to start laying a base for whatever comes next up there! There are a couple of skyboxes nearby, made of stained glass, but I have yet to see anyone using them. Privacy will still be rather more assured up here than down on the ground - at least I hope so! The other wonderful thing about dwelling at this height is the clarity of the air, perfect for stargazing, or as in these shots, taking in a glorious sunset. Now all that remains to be done is to decide what I want to put up here!

Love Above The Clouds

After taking something of a break from my various projects over the festive season, I thought it about time I did a bit more to the Chain. I had just reached 650m when my beloved IM'd me - with only a few minutes available to her, she wanted to meet up for a kiss before heading off to work. It always bowls me over that a woman with all the qualities that Melissa posesses should view time with me as an integral part of her day. I am just so lucky! So a quick TP later, and we were in each others arms once more. Fresh from our sartorial domination of yesterday night, Melissa looked absolutely divine in a wonderful creation of lace and silk. Rezzing is a lot quicker at these altitudes, and everything looks a lot better than it does at ground level, even me! We decided between us that once we start living in such a rarefied atmosphere, it will be very hard to descend to Terra Secunda ever again!

Made For Each Other

Melissa Yeuxdoux and Mordecai Scaggs - the new Posh and Becks of SL? Perhaps not, dear reader, but we did manage to achieve a moment of celebrity and personal vindication tonight - read Melissa's account of our winning ways here! Yes, we won Best Female and Best Male in a formal evening wear contest, held at the HotShop Mall in Jewell.

I jacked in to the Grid, arriving as is my custom at our tea house. Melissa IM'd me, saying she was committed to a dance/evening gown contest, and might not be able to meet up with me. Heartbroken at the thought of my beloved having a dancing partner and co-contestant other than myself, I tentatively inquired as to whether I could join her. My insecurity was quickly washed away by her reaction of "of course you may, love - I am entered alone at the moment". Ah love, cruel and vicarious emotion, that can take one to the very heights of ecstatic joy, only to throw one into the darkest pits of despair the next instant, and return one to the peaks of happiness the following. Sad as it is, I am able to measure the depth of my love for Melissa by how horrific the visions of being without her can be, as well as by which tier of heaven her presence takes me too.

The first picture shows Melissa directing my choice of attire, and how right she was to go with the Maximillian, from Silver Rose Designs. Next we are seen taking part in the contest, hosted by Aqua Asano. Melissa says there were many beautiful people around us, but I saw them not. I was gratified to see I was the only man there not wearing a tux, my admiration for my beloved climbing ever further up the scale. After the winners were announced, we had a slow dance together. In the third picture you can see Garr Flax behind us, the man with whom I tied for the Best Male prize. He has the most amazing braided hair! To get anywhere near winning was a major surprise to me. No surpise at all was the fact that my darling beloved won the crown of Best Female by 5 votes clear of the competiton. Well, I apologise to all the other ladies who participated, but girls, you just weren't ever going to be any competition for Melissa - there never has been, nor will be, an avatar created to come close to her beauty.





My dear sister Sorcha came to join in the fun - read her blog here. She looked stunning in a red gown, the most cloth I have ever seen her allow near her body! She does have a fabulous body, in a different way to my darling, and naturally dresses to show it to its best potential. Tonight though she was the very personification of demure. After the contest, I bade my farewells to the two dearest women in my life, as FL needed my input for a while, and to my delight they settled down to a girls chat in the tea house. I just hope neither filled the other in too deeply about me! Tis my dearest wish that Sorcha have a female role-model she can look up to and learn from, and in Melissa she has the perfect mentor.

The last picture shows me claiming the only prize that matters - a slow dance with the woman who has full and exclusive rights to my heart and soul. If nothing else comes of my various projects 'pon this Grid of ours, every Linden I spend will have been worth it many many times over, for the time I have had with Melissa. With the love of this woman in my life, I want for nothing else. The fact we did both win, though, has given us both vindication at a personal level. Now I will have to believe my beloved when she says I look good - pleasing to her is the only accolade I ever aspire to - and she will most definitely have to believe me when I tell her she is possessed of the most beautiful pixels in the metaverse. What a start to a New Year for any couple to have! Perhaps 2007 will be a year for us after all!

Tea House Samurai

I have been on the Grid now for some 3 months, and only now am I starting to explore the art of combat here. It is something every gentleman of breeding should know, how to handle a blade with skill and aplomb, and as my fencing days ended when my school days did, I fancied I was in need of some practice. To go along with Melissa's abiding - and my nascent - interest in things oriental, I have entered into the realms of the samurai. Listen to this podcast, which piqued my interest greatly.

I have bought myself a good blade, a Musashi Eternal v3.2, actually I purchased a v3.1, but part of the wonderful service one gets from this particular master swordsmith is free upgrading of your weapon whenever such becomes necessary. I chose this blade because it looked nice, its clarity of design appealed to my soul, and it is part of the Combat:Samurai Island system, so I can find plenty of opponents whose blades need whetting.

Top picture is of your noble correspondent, outside the Yeuxdoux Tea House, attired for battle. I am not entirely sure what look I am after here, but something more towards the realm of fantasy than historical reproduction is apparent. Ultimately I would like the "Dandy of the steampunk era with an affectation for oriental mysticism and martial mythology" look - watch out Jerry Cornelius, I am after your wardrobe!

The next picture is a view across part of Samurai Island, a sim given over to melee combat, particularly using the C:SI system, which has its headquarters there. The board listing the schools recognised by C:SI covers one wall of their building. In order to have one's results entered into some form of rating system, one must belong to one of the recognised schools. There are a couple that catch my eye, but we shall see, I prefer to be a solitary freelancer at the present, duelling with whoever wants an easy win! More can be learnt about C:SI here.

I had a moment of madness when I thought about a mask, a la Zorro. I purchased a lovely example of the sort of thing one would wear to a society masque, in the Venetian style. This shot includes the feathers. Not quite me, with or without such adornment. The final picture, and we are getting somewhere! More Bladerunner than Entropy Tango, but we are definitely making progress!